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As the gig economy grows, more and more stories of worker exploitation are coming to the fore. And as reports of shady labor practices at Uber, Lyft, Taskrabbit, Postmates, and Amazon Mechanical Turk show, these issues run rampant across all sectors of the gig economy. In the home services industry, the platform Handy has made a name for itself, connecting people with pre-screened professional cleaners, fixers, and other professionals. Within three years of its founding, however, the company already faced lawsuits for allegedly underpaying workers and making them pay severe fees for minor transgressions.
To counter poor labor practices, gig workers and entrepreneurs are now taking matters into their own hands by launching their own digital platforms for various services. Called "platform cooperatives," these businesses bring the structure of traditional cooperatives, including worker ownership and governance, to the digital world.
To counter poor labor practices, gig workers and entrepreneurs are now taking matters into their own hands by launching their own digital platforms for various services. Called "platform cooperatives," these businesses bring the structure of traditional cooperatives, including worker ownership and governance, to the digital world.
Geert Lovink and Ned Rossiter<br><br>Organization after Social Media explores a range of social settings from arts and design, cultural politics, visual culture and creative industries, disorientated education and the crisis of pedagogy to media theory and activism. Lovink and Rossiter devise strategies of commitment to help claw ourselves out of the toxic morass of platform suffocation.
"In fact, there are a lot of things that could have been done in New York to prevent the kind of devastation that we saw during Hurricane Sandy, from basic adjustments and investments in infrastructure to more radical, but still very practical changes—like the proposal to green the coast of the city with wetlands and marshes that can absorb the energy of incoming water during storms. (This is a much more realistic and affordable solution than the idea of building higher and higher sea walls around the city, which is being floated by some politicians.) The fact is that the New York City coastline was expanded many years ago by creating and building out an artificial landfill. Not surprisingly this area is among the most flood prone in the city."
Development Alternatives (DA), the world's first social enterprise dedicated to sustainable development, is a research and action organisation striving to deliver socially equitable, environmentally sound and economically scalable development outcomes. Our green technology innovations for habitat, water, energy and waste management, which deliver basic needs and generate sustainable livelihoods, have reduced poverty and rejuvenated natural ecosystems in the most backward regions of India.
Since inception DA is dedicated to systemic transformation. It started by analysing the changes that were needed in the existing societal and economic order to ensure that the wellbeing of the marginalised and the health of the environment is maintained and regenerated, for long into the future.
Since inception DA is dedicated to systemic transformation. It started by analysing the changes that were needed in the existing societal and economic order to ensure that the wellbeing of the marginalised and the health of the environment is maintained and regenerated, for long into the future.
What’s needed is a new story in which care for the places where we live is a practical focus for solidarity. In that spirit, a series of xskool workshops called Back To The Land 2.0 brought local actors together, in diverse locations, to flesh out this new story of place with live examples. The text below (it’s about 4,000 words, a 20 minute read) is about the lessons we have learned so far. It builds on the course we helped run at Schumacher College a year ago and in June. (Illustration above: Terre de Liens)
RESUMO: Este artigo discute os conceitos de inovação, inovação social e inovação tecnológica com o intuito de analisar a dicotomia existente entre esses termos em suas epistemologias e práticas. Após um longo período em que inovação esteve relacionada a um processo social, a partir da segunda metade do século XX o termo passa a definir processos relacionados somente ao desenvolvimento tecnológico e econômico. Recentemente, inovação social volta a ser discutida, embora muitas vezes adquira sentido restritivo às ações de combate à exclusão social e ao desgaste ambiental promovidos pela inovação tecnológica. Este estudo ressalta a importância desses conceitos caminharem juntos para a definição de políticas e estratégias para a inovação com foco na sustentabilidade do planeta. Para a melhor compreensão dos termos, uma análise bibliográfica e um estudo do caso da impressão 3D mostra como processos de inovação se relacionam tecno-socialmente, tanto em conceitos quanto em ações. O estudo apresenta uma matriz analítica que permite, por um lado, sistematizar e comparar esses conceitos e por outro, verificar como inovações sócio-técnicas promovem a sustentabilidade na esfera ambiental, social e econômica, e serve como subsídio para a construção de políticas para o setor. Ao final, percebe-se necessário estudos que consigam determinar e mensurar processos organizacionais de práticas sustentáveis nas esferas sociais e tecnológicas concomitantemente.
